22 August 2018 (FAO)* – Youth around the world are increasingly turning away from agriculture. Traditionally requiring tough manual labour and offering low wages, agriculture does not often appeal to new generations who generally prefer to try their luck finding jobs in cities.
The world’s young people need safe spaces – both physical and digital – where they can “freely express their views” and “pursue their dreams” was the core message of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to mark this year’s International Youth Day.
World Bank/Roxana Bravo | Students from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, about half of whom are orphans and former street children and about one-third girls, play their instruments. | Photo from UN News.
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“The hopes of the world rest on young people,” said the UN chief on 10 August 2018, in advance of the official Day, which is celebrated annually on 12 August. “Peace, economic dynamism, social justice, tolerance – all this and more, today and tomorrow, depends on tapping into the power of youth,” he added.
Refugee youth are seldom consulted and frequently overlooked. Their potential remains largely untapped.
Elizabeth Kuach, 16, and Mary Aduol, 18, stand outside NRC’s youth center in Gordhim, South Sudan. Elizabeth and Mary are studying full-time, learning basic numeracy and literacy as well as vocational skills such as baking, carpentry, and agriculture. “We learn something new every day,” said Mary Aduol. Photo by David Belluz/NRC
9 August 2018 (The Norwegian Refugee Council)* – Refugee youth are seldom consulted, frequently overlooked, and often unable to fully participate in decision making.
Their talents, energy, and potential remain largely untapped, according to a report from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC).
In the first of a series of articles to mark International Youth Day on 12 August, ILO focuses on an its funded project that has been supporting efforts to curb urban violence and restore peace in the coastal town of Diégo Suarez.
DIEGO-SUAREZ (ILO)* – Located in northern Madagascar, the town of Diégo-Suarez has many tourist assets, thanks to its extraordinary setting, its beaches and old colonial buildings that lend it a special charm. But a few years ago, the city was confronted by organized gangs known as foroches, or “wild ones,” who created conditions of insecurity and threatened to undermine the tourist industry.
ILO chief, Guy Ryder, highlights the major contribution BRICS countries can make to social dialogue, social protection, gender equality and youth employment.
ILO Director-General at the summit of the Labour and Employment Ministers Meeting of the BRICS countries
DURBAN, 3 August 2018 (ILO)* – ILO Director-General Guy Ryder has welcomed the joint Declaration issued by Labour and Employment Ministers of the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – at their fourth summit in the Republic of South Africa.
The Declaration commits BRICS countries to promote social dialogue between governments and the social partners – employers’ and workers’ organizations in order to respond to the challenges brought by the Future of Work and digitalization.
14 June 2018 — At the newly-established “50/50” fast food restaurant on the tree-lined streets of Herat, in the west of Afghanistan, business is brisk as deliveries are whisked away, on the back of motorbikes to hungry customers across the ancient city.
UNAMA/Fraidoon Poya | Farhad Majidi, the owner of the fast-food 50/50 restaurant.
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But for the people of Herat, it’s more than pizza and sandwiches that are on their minds; the real food for thought is whether to participate in key parliamentary and district elections in October later this year.
With one in four of the world’s 1.2 billion youth affected by some sort of violence or armed conflict, the United Nations on 24 April 2018 launched a project to support new, youth-driven initiatives in education, science, culture and the media to prevent violent extremism in Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.
UNESCO | UNESCO and the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) launch project on “Prevention of Violent Extremism through Youth Empowerment in Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia” with event at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
Vladimir Voronkov, who heads the UN’s counter-terrorism office (UNOCT) met in Paris with Audrey Azoulay, head of the UN cultural agency, to initiate the joint project, ‘Preventing Violent Extremism through Youth Empowerment in Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.’
Tapping the potential and creativity of young people is indispensable to prevent conflict and build peace, the United Nations youth envoy on 23 April 2018 said, urging governments to create conditions that allow their meaningful participation in civic and political lives.
UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein | Women and girls in Monrovia, Liberia, staged a peaceful sit-in protest against gender-based violence in 2007.
Jayathma Wickramanayake, the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, underlined three critical areas – supporting youth’s peace efforts; prioritizing their political participation; and partnering with them.
25 February 2018 (openDemocracy)* — Isolating itself – like Britain is doing – would be the end. Italy couldn’t afford it. That is the one thing everyone agrees on…
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**Photo: Trade union protesters demonstrate near the Colosseum against Renzi’s labour market reforms | Author: Simone Ramella | flickr.com | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Aren’t other countries following the British way out? For a while, the English-language press was awash with speculations about Italy intending to do the same. A neologism gained traction back in 2016 – Quitaly.
Agriculture will continue to generate employment in Africa over the coming decades, but businesses around farming, including processing, packaging, transportation, distribution, marketing and financial services, could also create jobs for young people, especially those in rural areas, a senior United Nations official on 22 February 2018 said.
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FAO/Giulio Napolitano | Women of the Batwa community tilling the soil with hoes in preparation for planting potatoes, in Gashikanwa, Burundi.
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“Countries need to promote a rural and structural transformation that fosters synergies between farm and non-farm activities and that reinforces” the linkages between rural areas and cities, José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told a regional conference on employment being held from 19 to 23 February in Khartoum, Sudan.
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